"World of difference, really. See...well...as a beginning example, I knew a lot of farmers growin' up. When a horse or a cow broke its leg, you called the vet, they put it down."
And it hurt like hell to watch, she thought with a shuddering breath. "You're making the decision for them. When you have to do that for a human, their is a question of their will as well as their welfare. Which, as anybody observant knows, don't always coincide. A perfectly healthy man may go to a doctor and demand assisted suicide out of despair; said doctor is pretty much obliged not to comply. A terminally ill person may demand that they be kept on and on, in suffering, comatose, for as long as life support will sustain them. Legality may tie the doctor's hands, but what does his oath say? These are hard, hard questions. The person not prepared to face them squarely can't possibly be prepared to engage in that kind of work.
"By comparison, assisted suicide is fairly straightforward. Will and welfare coincide fairly closely. The patient wants it, and the doctor's determined that denying him or her that is essentially countenancing torture. Handled carefully, it's pretty clearly the right choice, in my opinion anyway. It still scares the hell out of people, though. You can't help but be a little troubled by it. Probably because so many people think this life is all there is."
She trailed off as they taxied out for landing, staring out over the tarmac. Wondering how many of those ethical judgments applied to suicide-by-cop.
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timeasmymeasure
[Clarice] "Good death" (tag Methos)
Date: 2006-01-20 06:29 pm (UTC)And it hurt like hell to watch, she thought with a shuddering breath. "You're making the decision for them. When you have to do that for a human, their is a question of their will as well as their welfare. Which, as anybody observant knows, don't always coincide. A perfectly healthy man may go to a doctor and demand assisted suicide out of despair; said doctor is pretty much obliged not to comply. A terminally ill person may demand that they be kept on and on, in suffering, comatose, for as long as life support will sustain them. Legality may tie the doctor's hands, but what does his oath say? These are hard, hard questions. The person not prepared to face them squarely can't possibly be prepared to engage in that kind of work.
"By comparison, assisted suicide is fairly straightforward. Will and welfare coincide fairly closely. The patient wants it, and the doctor's determined that denying him or her that is essentially countenancing torture. Handled carefully, it's pretty clearly the right choice, in my opinion anyway. It still scares the hell out of people, though. You can't help but be a little troubled by it. Probably because so many people think this life is all there is."
She trailed off as they taxied out for landing, staring out over the tarmac. Wondering how many of those ethical judgments applied to suicide-by-cop.